Examples of Great Mobile App Designs (and What We Can Learn)

Struggling with your mobile app design and aesthetic appearance? Getting it wrong can cost you dearly. Avoid disaster and find inspiration in some of the most popular apps around!

Mobile app development is all about satisfying a consumer’s need or desire. You want to get them downloading and using your app, which means you have to give them what they want. Creating an end product that does not meet their expectations is a good way to have it fast-tracked into a world of obscurity.

One key factor in the success of an app is strong app design. Your users will spend most of their time on high-grade apps designed by big corporations with massive budgets and, as a result, they have become accustomed to a certain level of quality.

If you dip below that quality level, your app will seem outdated, or cheap, or lazy, or any number of other negative things. To achieve customer satisfaction and get those downloads rolling, you need app design of the highest quality. But what constitutes good app design?

Today, we take a look at some of the most popular and well-designed business apps, breaking down what makes them such powerful tools of success.

If you’re really struggling to come up with great mobile app design, perhaps you’d rather talk to an app development expert directly and get some bespoke advice? If that sounds like a good idea to you, contact Apps4U now.

Mobile App Design Pointers from Amazon

Titan of eCommerce Amazon is the website all online retailers look to for inspiration, so their app is sure to have some great insights, too. At a quick glance, what are the important takeaways?

Well branded

Focus on visuals

Minimalist design

Clear navigation tools

Focus on key information only

As a business that prides itself on a fast-paced shopping experience, the Amazon app does not become bogged down in nitty-gritty information. It keeps things simple and provides you with the details you need. The pages themselves have high visual focus, without clutter. You’ll also notice a lot of muted tones in terms of colour palette and plenty of white space.

eBay’s Mobile App Design

Another major player in the eCommerce world is eBay. It too has a smart and functional app with strong design. Here’s what we notice immediately:

Bright colours reflecting branding

Lots of white space

Clear navigation tools

Minimalist design

Attention is drawn to product imagery

This app is clearly focused on selling products. There is very little to its design, with most of the space taken up with eye-catching product imagery. eBay’s design demonstrates how less really is more.

App Design Tips from Booking.com

eCommerce websites aren’t the only businesses with apps. Websites in other industries, such as hotel bookings, have also put their resources together to build apps with fantastic design. Here’s the app from Booking.com and what we can learn from it:

Clear instructions and buttons

Minimalist design

Simple functionality

If you thought that eBay was barebones, then Booking.com takes things to a whole new level. The app offers users what they need — a feature that allows for quick hotel searches — and that’s it. It keeps out the complex stuff like advanced filters until later in the process. To entice users in, it keeps things very basic, keeps text and imagery out of the equation and focuses entirely on its USP: finding hotels fast!

What’s Deliveroo’s Mobile App Design Like?

Some brands are built almost entirely around their app, such as takeaways ordering service Deliveroo. This business app is the foundation on the which the company is built, so its design really does need to deliver. Here are a few quick takeaways from the app:

Minimalist design

High focus on imagery

Clear navigation and search facilities

Lots of white space

The Deliveroo app is another app that does not mess around. This app design is all about providing the consumer with enticing meal options to satisfy their hunger cravings. It leans on images and necessary information — such as the type of food and delivery times. The design is targeted at providing quick access to details. No frills, no unnecessary features.

What These Business Apps Can Teach Us About Mobile App Design

Every app in this list follows the same core principles. Starting with a basic colour palette as to not overwhelm users with contrast, they carry on with very minimalist design, obvious and easy-to-access navigation, while putting a focus entirely on one aspect of their business. These apps are not cluttered; they are not technically advanced or brimming with features only a wealthy company could produce.

The word that you could use to describe them all is simple.

This is exactly what users want. People love apps, more so than mobile websites, because they are convenient, easy to use and accessible. These businesses have clearly understood this user desire and worked on their mobile app design accordingly. If you follow their example and do more of the same, your customers will be more likely to use and engage with your app.

If you’d like more help working through your app design ideas, why not check out a previous blog of ours, The 4 Key Principles of Great Mobile App Design? Or if you’d like some tailored advice from Apps4U, simply use the contact form to the right of this very blog and we’ll be in touch!